Tag Archives: Boston

As I sit here watching Project Runway wishing I could pull off a a peplum skirt, I’m thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve posted. Almost 2 weeks have gone by, filled with many things to be happy about, and I haven’t told you guys about even one!!! Shame shame shame, Brita. I shouldn’t keep these happy things to myself – it’ll never happen again.

Let’s start with 2 weeks ago Sunday – I was on a crafty kick and wanted to get inspired. What is more inspiring than an sunny afternoon at a crafts fair in the city? Pretty much nothing. It’s called SoWa, kinda like SoHo but it’s South Washington Street in south Boston. Morgan, Katherine, and I ventured there with ideas in mind, and we were welcomed by lots of fun booths. But first, the garage we parked in inspired us to take some hipster pics.

Hipster stance? Katherine’s got one…and a tire!

We didn’t make out as well as we had hoped. Katherine was looking for furniture at a reasonable price, I was looking for awesome jewelry and scarves (it’s almost fall, as we all know), and Morgan, well Morgan being the chef that she is, was interested in the food trucks. And for good reason! We tried popcorn, honey, the BEST gingersnap cookie I’ve ever had, and locally made sandwiches for lunch.

This is where the cookie was made – and how fun is the name “Rollin’ in the Dough” for a bakery???

I’ll take them all, thanks.

Lots of local produce.

I didn’t get much of anything that stayed with me more than the few hours (if you know what I mean….) but I know I want to go back to the SoWa market before it closes at the end of October! If only just to get another one of those gingersnaps.

Most of my happy times recently have taken place outside. I want to take advantage of the beautiful weather before the winter substitutes shorts with long underwear. The weather has been pretty darn perfect too, so spending 8 hours a day inside at work has pushed me outside on the nights and weekends. Last week, I went for a longish run around the Charles River after work. Well, me and 3/4 of all of Boston – it seemed like everyone was out that night! And with good reason….

This city has my favorite skyline. Sorry NYC.

Can you get more Boston than this?? Rowing and everything!

I could run forever with a view like this.

Let’s hear it for the iPhone camera! I probably stopped about 15 times to take pictures, and maybe once because I took a wrong turn and ended up on busy road. But that aside, I found my way back after being rejuvenated with a healthy run and perfect evening views from the river.

I went south of the city to SoWa, into the heart of the city on my run, so naturally I had to go north of the city for a hike. Anna, one of my oldest friends who I know from Canada, just moved to my neck of the woods, so we got together for a jaunt in the woods. It’s strange to see her outside of camp, but I’m willing to get used to it 🙂 We took Blanche (my trusty Subaru) to the Blue Hills, about 30 minutes north of the city, to hike the Skyline Trail. Along with awesome conversation, we found some stellar views of the city from a far. Check these out!

The perfect day to be on top of a mountain.

Boston from the Blue Hills

Our trip was very impromptu and we didn’t plan it much, just followed the blue dashes on the trees until we got here which took about an hour. At the top, we asked a fellow hiker to take our picture for us and spent a good part of our time there sitting on a rock just chatting, not unlike how we spend our time in Canada. Because we didn’t know where the other side of the blue trail ended up, we decided to back track until we got back to the car. It was a good idea. I’m so glad Anna is here and that we now know a good spot to get out of the city and into the wilderness, even if only for the afternoon.

Found this along the way. John really knows how to use a knife in a tree…

There’s that kind outdoorsman now!

Old friends in new places 🙂

Forecast for this weekend is looking bright – I can already smell a barbecue on Saturday and potentially picking them apples on Sunday. The outdoors makes me feel productive and re-energized after a long week. With autumn palpable in the chilly air, a whole new array of activities will begin – can’t wait!!

I watched a bit of my favorite yellow sponge this weekend and just had to share. He is so happy, playful, hilarrrrrious, and squeaks when he walks. I know my sisters don’t understand it, but this little guy gets me laughing each time! Exhibit A.

Anywho, onto the other cool stuff. Sunday and Monday were very productive days, and there’s nothing quite as satisfying as going to bed knowing you won for the day. I had a dentist appointment this morning; ugh, I can’t tell you how much I hate the dentist. I’ve had a billion cavities over the years, so needless to say, I went in today prepared to pay another $500 or whatever it is to get my teeth looking like new. I’m happy to report: NO CAVITIES!!! I also learned that the Crest SpinBrush Pro is a crock full of bologna. Apparently it’s not very effective because it only twists in one direction and not meant for those with the dexterity to maneuver a regular toothbrush. Goodbye, SpinBrush. Sorry Mom.

Another thing that made me happy today was biking to and from work! I finally set out some back-road routes so that I don’t have to take big roads, which makes getting the commute so much easier. Riding in traffic at 5:15pm is not ideal, but it isn’t as stressful as I thought it would be, especially because I work 2 miles from my apartment. Lucky me 🙂

This post is lacking pix – this is Boston leaving the Children’s Museum at night. That’s the Constellation something-or-other on the left, very famous.

After work, I decided to take advantage of the nice weather we have left up here in Bipolar Boston and go for a run outside. Boy, is it WAY more fun to run outside then inside! So many things to look at, surroundings to keep you on your toes (literally), and obstacles to make it interesting. I’m sure lots of people do this, but does anyone else look at their reflection in store windows as they run past?? I try to only do it when no one is around and I make it real stealth; do you think anyone actually thinks I’m window shopping while getting my sweat on? I just gotta check my stride, people! I noticed how much I did it today, especially running in a city – many, many windows are passed.

Speaking of running in the city, I see some of the strangest things. Today, the highlight was an older, rounder man sitting on a park bench reading the paper. May not sound so strange, but he was wearing a blonde wig, about shoulder length, with bangs. It was a strange combination – mustache, sunglasses, khakis, and….a wig. I giggled and congratulated myself on a great day to run outside.

I was able to squeeze in a quick filling dinner tonight before work 2.0 kicked in around 8 (to which I rode my bike as well, just sayin’). I loooove chicken sausage – they’re so easy to pair with anything, add some much needed protein to my diet, and come in really delish flaves. Not to mention that they are about 150 calories. In my grocery bag they went. To incorporate them into my meal tonight, I fried up some spinach and feta chicken sausages, red pepper, and cauliflower with only a little bit of olive oil. The flavor of the sausages really mixed well with the veggies, and I didn’t need a sauce! I topped a hefty serving of arugula with the sausage/veg mix and finished the meal off with some dried mangoes. So much in this dinner that I love!

So fresh and so clean, clean – literally

Excited for tomorrow – The roomies and I are having our last meal together! I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since we moved in….so much has happened for all 3 of us. I’m so lucky to have had such AWESOME roommates, and we’ll definitely miss you here, Julia! We’re growing up so quick 🙂

Remember how awesome being a kid was? I mean, who doesn’t miss PB&J’s for lunch, not caring about getting covered in sand at the beach, and taking naps literally every afternoon? Not to mention you didn’t have bills to pay or relationship problems. All dudes had cooties – which I’m beginning to think it’s still kinda true…

I digress. Boston Children’s Museum realized this nostalgia exhibited by adults in Boston, so they created a Grown Up night for anyone over 21 (with a ticket) to explore the museum and its exhibits sans the kiddos. Of course I’m going to jump on that. Morgan, Katherine, Rosie and I met a couple friends here this Wednesday night to learn about natural defense mechanisms of plants and animals, finger painting, comparing my 5’3″ to Shaq’s 7′ frame, and supermarkets in Cape Verde. All while drinking Harpoon. Talk about an exciting night! Here are some pics from the Boston Children’s Museum Facebook event (as I didn’t take any for myself)

We made it on the page!!!

Learning how to use a screwdriver

Disclaimer to that photo: we were just in the arts and crafts room where a collaborative paper plate sculpture was being made. Hence Katherine’s brilliant fascinator 🙂

Note to self: don’t climb this in a dress.

Bubbles can entertain people of all ages

There were so many rooms, so unfortunately we couldn’t make it to each one in the 3 hour time slot. Too. Much. Stimulation. Over 800 people attended – what a success! Thanks Boston Children’s Museum! Let’s do more of these nights 🙂 mostly because I didn’t get to the shadow room and I hear it’s a hoot!

Tonight, I explored another part of childhood – the part in the womb. My “sister-in-law” is having a little babe in October, so Meg put together a lovely baby shower for her. Since this was my first rodeo, I only had an idea of what a stereotypical baby shower consisted of – little food, baby games, and opening of gifts, along with a lot of advice. That’s pretty much how it went! There were little baby turkey burger sliders, a potato salad with little baby purple taters, quiche, arugula salad (my favorite stuff ever), and tomatoes with FRESH mozz and basil. Obviously, what baby shower would be complete without cupcakes? They were there too. The food was amazing – thanks Meg! We played a game about Carrie as a kid, and I definitely owned that. Then Carrie opened gifts. This was a reasonably sized party – only about 10 people – so it wasn’t too much to watch her unwrap the good stuff. There is a lot to know when having a baby. How can anyone feel prepared?? Needless to say, I learned a lot and heard a lot of stories. We even had a prediction chart about the sex, weight, and date of the arrival. Fingers crossed for a girl on Oct. 20 weighing 8lbs! Congrats, Carrie! Can’t wait to meet the bump 🙂

All this talk about childhood makes me want to go back, but also excited for the future because there is so much still ahead for me. Being a kid was undoubtably awesome, but now I have even cooler stuff to look forward to – going to grad school, traveling, falling in love and making a family of my own someday. I want to take advantage of the time I have and my youth, because truthfully, it only comes once. No matter how many times I may go to the Boston Children’s Museum 🙂

This weekend was full of a lot of firsts. Gross, not that kind of firsts, geez. Let me explain.

1. Friday night I went out in Boston and explored new areas I’ve never been – mainly Kenmore square. I loved the feeling I had when I walked down Commonwealth Ave. Everytime I make it into a new part of the city, I wish I could move there. Boston just has this comfortable, picturesque essence to it that screams my name. My response? “Lower your rent, or wait until I win the lottery.” Needless to say, our relationship is a bit touch-and-go.
I ate at Eastern Standard and had the best time! The drink menu is out of this world – it could have been written in Arabic and I would have understood just as much. No simple gin and tonics here! I tried the Old Cuban (my favorite) and a Whiskey Smash (reeeeally generous on the smash….) For dinner, I had the steak tar tar followed by the lobster gnocchi. This girl’s classy 🙂

2. Saturday afternoon consisted of something that I never do. Riding bicycles. I know there’s a huge craze right now over indoor cycling, mainly SoulCycle, but sue me….it’s boring. Bikes just aren’t really my friend. And they make my bum hurt (do the seats reeeeally have to be that skinny??). But I put that aside and rented a real bike for the day to go with M and D on a trail ride. They biked the Minuteman Bike Trail before and raved about it, so I decided to switch up my workout routine on a Saturday and ride with them. It was beautiful! Through Arlington and into Lexington we rode, stopped for lunch, and flew back. We passed the cutest towns, huge ponds, lots of playgrounds, and marshy areas. The day was a little overcast and chilly, so the trail wasn’t too packed and we were able to zoom around as we liked 🙂 It was definitely a great way to spend the afternoon!

3. Remember those awesome people I like to call my friends? Well they’re still cool. Sunday morning, we headed up to K’s house, after dropping off M at her all-year-long beach house, and had a much needed pool day. We left early to get there early because I had to leave early. Early. K’s wonderful parents made a fruit salad, homemade curry chicken salad, brie stuffed figs wrapped in prosciutto…what? Did drool just hit your keyboard too? It was delish! We were sooo grateful to get in our swim suits and soak in the sun. If even for a few hours, it was awesome. Thanksss K and family!

4. This cookie butter. Oh dear lord, I should have never bought this. It’s literally cookies trying to be peanut butter. I don’t know what to do with myself. I tried it today, and by “tried it” I mean forcefully stopped eating it before the whole thing was gone. Even the check-out guy at Trader Joe’s commented on how good it was. His exact words were “Have you ever had this stuff? It’s good on waffles, pancakes, fruit, toast, spoons.” I took him up on that last one for sure. My sister always says I have no self-restraint, which is true, so this week will be a true testament – can I keep myself away from the cookie butter long enough to be able to get into a swim suit this weekend? Only time will tell, my friends. May the force be with me.

5. I’m grateful for when Boston looks like this:

Jealous yet?

Taken on my way back to my apartment from a fitness class last week. Could be worse.

Oh and for those of you that can hear me sniffling and blowing my nose in a mile radius, I promise it’ll stop soon. It’s already gotten better!